A novel method for separating oxygen from lunar regolith has recently been granted two US patents. Early research at the system level has demonstrated the viability of this concept for silicon extraction. The focus of this paper is the process thermodynamics and energy scale-up for oxygen extraction. Starting with first principles, the separation of various oxygen-bearing minerals are analyzed with regards to vaporization, ionization, acceleration, separation by transverse electric fields, and condensation for collection of liquid oxygen. The next phase of work studies the geometric considerations of separation to obtain estimates of oxygen purity and throughput. This initial work will assess technical feasibility of oxygen extraction from lunar regolith, and provide a foundation for subsequent studies which must include various second-order effects such as self-shielding and beam diffusion needed to make estimates of throughput and overall efficiency.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Oxygen Separation from Lunar Regolith


    Additional title:

    Sae Technical Papers


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    International Conference On Environmental Systems ; 2007



    Publication date :

    2007-07-09




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Oxygen Separation from Lunar Regolith

    Schubert, P. J. / Society of Automotive Engineers | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2007


    Lunar Regolith

    Gies, J. V. / American Society for Civil Engineers; Aerospace Division | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1996


    Lunar Production System for Extracting Oxygen from Regolith

    Linne, Diane L. / Schuler, Jason M. / Sibille, Laurent et al. | ASCE | 2021


    Consolidating Lunar Regolith

    Cayden Doyle / Sheila A Thibeault / Jin Ho Kang et al. | NTRS


    Consolidating Lunar Regolith

    C. Doyle / S. A. Thibeault / J. H. Kang et al. | NTIS | 2021